The biggest advantage to any team in the AFL, is not a player – like Gary Ablett is to the Gold Coast.
It is not a coach – like Alastair Clarkson is to Hawthorn or Paul Roos is to Melbourne. It is not a club’s culture – like the Bloods to the Sydney Swans.
It is not the salary club allowances that teams north of the Murray get.
It is a home ground, but it isn’t Patersons Stadium or Adelaide Oval.
Geelong’s home ground Simonds Stadium is biggest advantage going around in football. It has helped them win three premierships this century and install fear and doubt into any opponent that visits.
Geelong are impeccable here, dominating defensively and scoring at will. The Cats treat their opponents like lab rats to a doctors experiment.
However, in the years leading to the Geelong dynasty, 2007-11, and the years after, Geelong’s home ground has helped make the Cats look better than they actually are.
During their magical five-year period, their talent and dominance was legitimate, but not so now.
Geelong last year were perhaps the worst team ever to finish in the top four. They were out of finals after two games, with losses to Hawthorn and North Melbourne.
Geelong finished third on the ladder with 17 wins and 5 losses. At Simonds Stadium, the Cats went 7-0 and all their losses were interstate (1-5).
The year before in 2013, they went 18-4, and 7-1 at home and again didn’t make the grand final. Since 2000, 25 teams have gone better than 17-5 – seven of them have not made the grand final.
| Year | Club | Record (W-L) | Result |
| 2003 | Port Adelaide | 17-5 | preliminary final |
| 2005 | Adelaide | 17-5 | preliminary final |
| 2011 | Hawthorn | 18-4 | preliminary final |
| 2011 | West Coast | 17-5 | preliminary final |
| 2012 | Adelaide | 17-5 | preliminary final |
| 2013 | Geelong | 18-4 | preliminary final |
| 2014 | Geelong | 17-5 | Semi Final |
All these teams have distinctive home-ground advantages, even Hawthorn with Aurora Stadium. Beware of the regional over-achievers – they look better than what they are.
Even when Geelong have been really bad, they still look merely OK. Geelong’s lowest finish this century has been 12th in 2003, only the Swans can equal that, 12th in 2008.
Geelong have been good even when it comes to sucking. The Cats lowest draft pick since 2000 has been pick seven, meaning they haven’t needed to be bad to get good.
The Father-Son rule has presented Geelong with some genetic pot luck. They drafted arguably their greatest midfielder, Gary Ablett Jnr, and defender Matthew Scarlett using the rule. Every team has good and bad luck when it comes to drafting, but Geelong seems really lucky.
Simmonds Stadium allows Geelong to develop talent quickly and Geelong midfielder Jimmy Bartel explains this. “We are probably in a fortunate position where we are one of the few clubs that play on the ground we train on,” Bartel said.
“It’s a big advantage if you do all your summer training on drills and structure and then you go and play on the ground, so you know it pretty well.
“It’s a different ground to most. It’s not as wide as Subi (Patersons Stadium) or the G, you can really squeeze a side on this ground.”
Bartel provides a good point here too, Simmonds Stadium is three metres narrower than Patterson’s Stadium.
Here is a list of AFL stadiums sorted by width
| Venue | Length (metres) | Width (metres) |
| Simmonds Stadium (Geelong) | 170 | 115 |
| ANZ Stadium (Olympic) | 160 | 118 |
| Patersons Stadium (Perth) | 175 | 122 |
| Spotless Stadium (GWS) | 164 | 123 |
| Adelaide Oval | 167 | 124 |
| Etihad Stadium | 160 | 129 |
| Blundstone Arena (Hobart) | 175 | 133 |
| Metricon Stadium (Gold Coast) | 160 | 134 |
| Aurora Stadium (Launceston) | 165 | 135 |
| TIO Stadium (Darwin) | 175 | 135 |
| Sydney Cricket Ground | 149 | 136 |
| Gabba | 156 | 138 |
| Manuka Oval (Canberra) | 162 | 138 |
| Melbourne Cricket Ground | 160 | 141 |
| Cazaly’s Stadium (Cairns) | 173 | 149 |
Most of the narrative that surrounds ground dimensions normally is associated with Paterson Stadium. How often do you here an old school media expert like Tony Shaw or Robert Walls go: “I think the [insert away-team here] is going to struggle with Patersons Stadium, so I think [insert Western Australian-team here] will win?”
I never hear the same thing about Simonds Stadium. Why not? It practically has the same dimensions as Patersons Stadium.
Simonds Stadium has allowed pervious Geelong coach, Mark Thompson, and current coach Chris Scott, to execute the zonal defence perfectly. The width of the ground allows Geelong defenders, past and present, to linger off their opponent. Defenders don’t have to worry about width and therefore don’t have to worry about small sneaky forwards leading into the crevices that the zone leaves open.
When the history of the sport is written, Matthew Scarlett and Corey Enright will go down as top 10 defenders of all-time, and that it something I wouldn’t argue with. But consider this, Simonds Stadium has made them look good.
Furthermore, defenders can run off their man knowing that they don’t have much ground to make up if there is turnover of possession. It harder to punish teams on a turnover because defenders don’t have to make up much ground to get back in their zone or man up.
Just as a side note, Ross Lyon utilises Paterson Stadium in a similar way and is why Fremantle beat Geelong in the 2013 qualifying final at Simonds Stadium. It was a home away from home for the Dockers as Lyon could implement his iconic game plan without compromise.
The narrow grounds of the AFL allow defensively minded teams prosper. I couldn’t think a more perfect fit for Lyon other than Fremantle given their home ground’s dimensions.
All the interstate/regional teams have home ground advantage, but not all are taking advantage like the Cats.
This is a list of winning strike rate of clubs at their home grounds with a minimum of 100 home games since 2000.
| Team | Venue | Winning Percentage |
| Geelong | Simonds Stadium | 79 |
| Sydney | SCG | 69 |
| Brisbane | Gabba | 62 |
| Fremantle | Patersons Stadium | 62 |
| West Coast | Patersons Stadium | 60 |
*Adelaide or Port Adelaide do not feature they have changed home grounds since 2000 and the sample size at Adelaide Oval is too small to be relevant.
The Cats are clearly capitalising on their home-ground advantage more than their rivals. I didn’t want to use the travel argument, because it seems lazy and obvious, but it also seems necessary.
Overall, 10 of their last 15 games in Geelong have been against interstate teams. So that’s between two and six hours on a plane and a further hour/hour and a half on a bus from the airport to Geelong.
I know it’s the most obvious argument and laziest too, but it’s worth noting. It simply has to be a factor given a team is travelling using a day of their schedule to get to Geelong.
Simmonds Stadium has been a fortress for Geelong and is their secret weapon in their phenomenal success this century. After been shredded by Hawthorn on the weekend, many will predict that the Geelong era is over, and that they won’t make the finals.
Geelong’s next three games are all at Simonds Stadium and they still have eight games left at the Cattery. The
Cats aren’t going anywhere, not as long as they call Kardinia home.
Find this author on Twitter @paudiang
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